The Stage

JOYRIDE Theatre Cedar Rapids’ Grandon Studio — Fri-Sun, Nov. 13-15 Theatre Cedar Rapids breaks new ground this week with its very first Studio Improv Series. Once the sole purview of the independent theater and college scenes, and dedicated companies like the Magnet Theatre and the IO, improvisational theatre has found an unlikely home at TCR […]

Psycho Beach Party Johnson County Fairgrounds — Through Nov. 1 In his program notes for Psycho Beach Party, director Louis Edward Doerge says of the show that, “at its core, it’s a love letter to film.” That homage is evident from the start, and many elements of the production highlight and emphasize those aspects of […]

Féminaal UI Theatre Building — Oct. 22-25 Playwright, MFA Directing candidate and feminist Nina Morrison took time to talk with Little Village about her upcoming show, Féminaal, which debuts this Thursday at 8 p.m. at the UI Theatre Building (Theatre B). Penned by Morrison and directed by Sam Collier, who recently graduated from the MFA […]

Listening for Grace Old Brick Church — Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. Issues of religion and sexuality are difficult to navigate in conversation. Navigating just those sorts of difficulties is where the arts — and theatre in particular — excel. Enter Ted Swartz. For two decades, Swartz has been travelling the U.S. and the […]

Humans love to tell each other stories. We sit around our proverbial campfires and spin yarns to keep the dark at bay. This time of year, though, the dark lasts longer; our fears are deeper. The nights are chill, the trees are stark. The earth is cycling away from the sun, and, as a society, […]

Giving Tree Theater, a new company in Marion, is putting on Barefoot in the Park as part of its innovative mission. The classic comedy about newlyweds in New York City was a notable high point in playwright Neil Simon’s career — Barefoot in the Park ran on Broadway for 1500 performances over the course of four years. […]

Dreamwell is concluding its season of “The Grand Delusion” with quite possibly the best play to embody this theme. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is widely considered the best American play of the 20th century. Traveling salesman Willy Loman clings to the hope that his children will achieve greatness one day, but son Biff grows disillusioned with his father’s version of the American Dream… […]